Kelley has foundationless frames

Michael Bush · January 13, 2010, 01:14:37 PM

Kelley now has foundationless frames:
Deeps: https://products.kelleybees.com/wtkprod/detail.aspx?item=1182
Mediums: https://products.kelleybees.com/wtkprod/detail.aspx?item=1184

edited to fix second link.

BeeHopper · January 13, 2010, 02:16:37 PM

Whoohoo ! :-D

Natalie · January 13, 2010, 09:04:36 PM

Thats great that one of the big companies is finally offering them. Its a good price too for not having to deal with getting them custom made or using glue and guides and all that fun stuff.
Defintely a convenience. I still have quite a bit of the frames that I had made with the angled top bar but I would buy these in the future.

JP · January 13, 2010, 10:03:03 PM

Well, its about time! That's great!

...JP

fermentedhiker · January 14, 2010, 09:30:23 AM

Nice, that'll make assembly go much quicker.

BeeHopper · January 14, 2010, 01:10:50 PM

I ordered a 100 Mediums yesterday from their online catalog, and they are in stock :)

bassman1977 · January 14, 2010, 07:48:51 PM

Are they assembled?

BeeHopper · January 14, 2010, 08:52:43 PM

Quote from: bassman1977 on January 14, 2010, 07:48:51 PM
Are they assembled?

Good question :? For $ .95 each, I doubt they are assembled.

Michael Bush · January 14, 2010, 10:07:52 PM

I was under the impression they WERE assembled.

bee-nuts · January 14, 2010, 11:42:57 PM

Do you need to put any wax on them at all or will the bees easily build the comb in a flow? Also, I know you can wire them. Can you extract them without blow outs?

Being that I hear the bees build comb as fast on their own or faster than on foundation, if one wires them, I see no reason to pay extra for foundation. Is there any real reason people should use foundation if they can afford it instead of foundationless?

Ive been wondering about this. It would save a lot of money.

Michael Bush · January 15, 2010, 11:29:22 AM

>Do you need to put any wax on them at all or will the bees easily build the comb in a flow?

I never wax them. I would use them "as is".

Here is a page with a lot of general information.
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfoundationless.htm

> Also, I know you can wire them.

I don't.
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfoundationless.htm#dowire

You can.
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfoundationless.htm#canwire

> Can you extract them without blow outs?

Yes.
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfoundationless.htm#extract

BeeHopper · January 15, 2010, 12:31:25 PM

Quote from: Michael Bush on January 14, 2010, 10:07:52 PM
I was under the impression they WERE assembled.

On the description of each item ( there are 3 to choose from for these frames ) only one indicates they're assembled, the other two have no indication, however they are all priced the same at .95 cents each :?
Now I would not charge the same price for an assembled item vs. an unassembled one, that's just me. :)

slaphead · January 15, 2010, 11:12:13 PM

Hurray!

Thank you for the heads up.

SH

bee-nuts · January 16, 2010, 04:24:47 AM

Thanks Michael Bush!

Fantastic!!!!

keeping bees just got cheaper! All that foundation can get expensive real quick. I see no reason not to let the bees build their combs the way they want as long as I can extract the frames. I will wire my honey frames until I have experience with them. I am guessing foundation-less prevents those frames of brood that are not drawn out deep enough. I had some frames of brood that I could not believe were capped when the cells were so shallow and resulted in tiny bees. I believe this is due to the fact that they start drawing out more cells than they can take care of when the queen goes to town laying in them. I cant wait till spring. Its going to be a long winter.

bassman1977 · January 16, 2010, 10:23:16 AM

QuoteCan you extract them without blow outs?

I've been using foundationless for two years and I've actually had less blow outs using foundationless than I did when using foundation. I do wire them though and I'm sure that helps, but then again, I wire everything.

annette · January 16, 2010, 08:14:06 PM

Quote from: Michael Bush on January 14, 2010, 10:07:52 PM
I was under the impression they WERE assembled.

I emailed them to find this out and they said for another .50 they would assemble them.

BeeHopper · January 17, 2010, 01:31:53 PM

Quote from: annette on January 16, 2010, 08:14:06 PM
Quote from: Michael Bush on January 14, 2010, 10:07:52 PM
I was under the impression they WERE assembled.

I emailed them to find this out and they said for another .50 they would assemble them.

Thank You :-D

deknow · January 17, 2010, 02:00:00 PM

well, we pay less than $.50/frame with a groove top bar, and simply glue in popsicle sticks (about 4 cents worth...we reuse them from honey tastings). we glue them in the top bars before assembly, and it's hard to call this "extra work".

we have way more popsicle sticks than we can use...if you are in the area (mass), or come to the upcoming 2010 northeast treatment free beekeeping conference, you are welcome to a thousand or so (you have to wash them yourself).

...i'd like a nice beveled top bar, but these are not beveled, and too expensive for my cheap taste :)

deknow

Michael Bush · January 18, 2010, 12:35:59 PM

>but these are not beveled

According to Kelley they are making them beveled now but haven't updated the picture yet.

BeeHopper · January 18, 2010, 12:58:09 PM

Quote from: deknow on January 17, 2010, 02:00:00 PM
well, we pay less than $.50/frame with a groove top bar, and simply glue in popsicle sticks (about 4 cents worth...we reuse them from honey tastings). we glue them in the top bars before assembly, and it's hard to call this "extra work".

we have way more popsicle sticks than we can use...if you are in the area (mass), or come to the upcoming 2010 northeast treatment free beekeeping conference, you are welcome to a thousand or so (you have to wash them yourself).

...i'd like a nice beveled top bar, but these are not beveled, and too expensive for my cheap taste :)

deknow

You're not cheap, You're Frugal ;)